Switch off your Internet and go socialize, Mumbai students told

Frederick Roberts, 13th March 2007

Bomby (India) - Students at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai (Bombay) have been told that the college will be turning off the free internet access provided on the campuses 13 student hostels from 11pm to 12.30 am; in an effort to promote socialization and early bed times for undergraduate students.

The dean of student affairs at the institute told Reuters "The old hostel culture of camaraderie and socializing among students is gone. This is not healthy in our opinion," he said, claiming that students didn't know the people two doors down from them in the hostel thanks to overuse of the internet.

The faculty also say that students have been missing many morning lectures after spending too long on the internet the previous night. They are hoping that by switching off the internet access for an hour and a half each night students will both see the benefit in face-to-face socialization and getting to bed early in order to be prepared for the next mornings study.

Students have been responding to the new rules questioning the regulation of their lives, and pointing out that when a similar policy was introduced in the IIT in Madras many students simply downloaded films during the daytime to sit in and watch during the internet blackout.